


The Thankless Job of Being An Assassin

by AyameAkuma



Category: Assassination Classroom, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: ....or worse, Aizawa loves the Problem Child, All Might is an Idiot, All Might/Consequences, Assassin Midoriya Inko, Assassin Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bakugou/Consequences - Freeform, Best Uncle Karasuma, Class 3 E (Assassination Classroom), Class As Family, College sucks so be patient about updates, Dadzawa, Do NOT piss off Assassin Izuku, How could I forget about these two, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Inko is badass and a wonderful mother, Izuku's dad is a bastard, Korosensei Best Teacher, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Go to U.A. High School, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku is So Done, Most of the class 3-E is either quirkless or has a passive quirk, My First Fanfic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parental Karasuma Tadaomi, Protective Class 3-E, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, SAME WITH INKO, Tags Are Hard, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor's Bad Parenting, everyone makes an appearance - Freeform, with his life, you will die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-01-29 15:01:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21412096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AyameAkuma/pseuds/AyameAkuma
Summary: In a world of superpowers - a.k.a Quirks - one 14 years old Midoriya Izuku was born Quirkless but he still believes he can become a hero if he works hard enough. One day, he meets All Might - The No. 1 Hero in the entire world -  and after being acknowledged by him, Izuku walks down on the path of the hero and proves the world that he is not "useless", right?WRONG!After All Might says he cannot be a hero, Izuku decides it is time to accept the legacy of his family and move on. If only it was as easy as it seemed. Instead, he is scouted by an old acquaintance of his mother to attend a school while having to kill his teacher who is the villain that exploded 70% of the moon?``"Ok, let me get this straight", Izuku begins already feeling a headache coming. "You want ME to attend this High School, where I and my supposed classmates need to kill our teacher who is the GODDAMN villain that blew up the FUCKING MOON like 2 weeks ago, and that is only because the government and the so-called Pro Heroes are not strong enough to handle him? " he says in a faux calm voice that sends chills down Krasuma's spine.Karasuma nods his head and Izuku sighs in resignment: "Figures. Adults are useless without me."
Relationships: Akabane Karma & Midoriya Izuku, Akabane Karma/Shiota Nagisa, Asano Gakushuu & Midoriya Izuku, Class 3-E (Assassination Classroom) & Midoriya Izuku, Irina Jelavić/Karasuma Tadaomi, Karasuma Tadaomi & Midoriya Izuku, Korosensei (Assassination Classroom) & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Inko/Sasaki Mirai | Sir Nighteye, Midoriya Izuku & Sasaki Mirai | Sir Nighteye, Midoriya Izuku & Shiota Nagisa, Midoriya Izuku & Todoroki Shouto
Comments: 59
Kudos: 628





	1. Midoriya Izuku - Hero Origin... or not (part 1)

A hero, by definition, is a person admired by others for their courageous attitude and deeds. People aspire to be like them, to possess the same noble qualities like them. Kindness, a selfless attitude, and immensurable courage are just some of the qualities a hero possesses. In books, heroes have some kind of power that allows them to help others or they possess the money to create their own means from which they get a “power”.

However, they are still humans. They have flaws, but people choose to ignore those flaws. Even authors choose to ignore those flaws in order to promote the image of a perfect human being. Perfection, however, cannot be achieved by humans and humans do not possess superpowers.

This is our cruel reality… or so it should be.

In this universe, humans started obtaining superpowers roughly 500 years ago, when, in China, a newborn started suddenly glowing. Afterward more and more humans were born with unusual powers. Some could control ice, some fire. Others could fly or change their form into one of an animal. The possibilities are endless.

Their sudden emergence, however, brought trouble for the “normal” population. In the beginning, those with “powers” were few and far between and in most cases not every single human with “powers” was kind. Abusing those powers, humans started stealing the money, and above all, the lives of others and so started an era of despair for the “normal” population of that time and an era of discrimination for the “empowered” humans that did not commit such crimes.

And that continued for a long time… until THEY rose.

THEY are mostly known nowadays by the term **“heroes”**. Different people, with different powers, started to stand up against criminals for the sole purpose of protecting others. And what a pure and innocent purpose that was...  
Nevertheless, they obtained the population’s trust and so began the “Era of the Heroes”. The criminal rate went down as more and more “empowered” humans started to rear their heads and protect others in need.

And so, years and years passed and the humans with “powers” started being more and more common in the world. Criminals started being called **“villains”** and anything associated with them is by extension “villainous”. “**Heroes**” became common and everything associated with them is “heroic”.

As more and more people shifted their attention to the “empowered” humans, those who did not have a “power” were seen as unimportant, insignificant to the world. They were defined mostly by one word – weak.

Thus, “powers” – that were given the term “quirks” later – begun to slowly but surely both rule the world and destroy the normal order in the universe. People were no longer “equal”. The population was divided into two categories now – “villains” and “heroes”, black and white, while the gray – the Quirkless beings – were put aside and mostly forgotten.

Now, in the year 2016, the quirked population is 80% of the entire population of Earth, the rest being Quirkless.

Currently, if the first heroes were to see the majority of the current ones, they would wish to go to Hell just to forget the atrocity that is called the “Modern Era of Heroes”. These initial heroes had lived their lives and gave them up for others without seeking a reward, however, now “being a hero” is a **paid** job. Yes, you heard me, a paid job. More than half of the current heroes get paid in order to save others. Granted, there are those who chose to become heroes just because they genuinely want to help other people but they are like endangered animals – hard to find and nurture this type of heroes in a world of fakes.

Our story’s protagonist is not a hero, however. He is not a villain either. He is in between. He can be a hero to some as well as a villain to others. One thing is true though – he is HUMAN.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyone who knows Midoriya Izuku can describe him in one word – weird.  
He is not a loud person and instead prefers to keep things for himself. This is in contradiction to his almost blinding smile that appears more often than not on his face when he sees a hero. But who can judge him? Heroes were cool and everyone wanted to be one.  
So why is he described as weird then? Because if you asked this 14 years old boy if he wants to be a Pro Hero, he would reply with an unsure “I guess… “.

Not only does he give a vague reply to a question that anyone else won’t even hesitate to scream “YES!” but, he is also Quirkless and anyone in this world understands that without a quirk, you cannot, under any measure, become a Pro Hero.

So yes, Midoriya Izuku is a weird being, perceived as mostly useless and… currently watching a Pro Hero – that goes by the name of Kamui Woods – fighting a giant villain from his place on a bridge along with other people? Huh… well, in this world things could be way more unusual than this.

As he watches with sparkling green eyes the battle that unfolds in front of him, his right-hand writes fast with a pencil on the paper of a notebook held in his left hand. On the blue cover of the notebook, the words “Hero Quirk Analysis #13” are visible. He hastily turns to a blank page as a new Pro Hero appears – who introduces herself as Mountain Lady – just before Kamui Woods can finish the villain with his “Preemptive Binding Lacquered Chained Prison” (’Seriously, who names their attack like that? Is way too long and before you can even finish that mouthful of an attack either a) the villain flees or b) someone takes the glory before you can do anything” the analytical part of Izuku’s brain complains, mentally cursing the stupidity of the current human race) thus stealing all the glory and hearts of the male viewers with her *ahem* assets and “masterful” use of her Gigantification quirk.

Izuku barely holds a sigh back at the sight of the damage Mt. Lady has done with her intervention. ‘_You’d think she would be more mindful of the fact that the houses she destroyed by kicking the villain into them were used by others… But then again there are quirks that do more damage than just a few houses and as she mentioned she is debuting now, which means her experience in the field is lacking._’, he thinks while scribbling more information on paper about the pros and cons of the newly debuted hero. ‘_As time passes, I am certain she will get more experience and her usage of the quirk she’s got would expand in a way that prevents her from destroying more buildings_…’. He sweats drops as Mt. Lady sends kisses to the public while Kamui Woods seems to have started growing mushrooms in the middle of the street, possibly because she stole the villain catch from him. ‘_I hope…_ “, Izuku adds with a slightly nervous laugh to his line of thoughts. 

One man that stands next to Izuku sees him taking notes and with a smile asks: “Hey kid! You are taking notes on heroes, right? You wanna be a hero yourself?” he asks good-naturedly.  
Izuku turns his head to the man and a thoughtful expression appears on his face. “I don’t know for sure … but I do admire heroes” he finished with a gentle and small smile. The man just smiles encouragingly and pats Izuku on the back.  
“Well, a hero or not, I am cheering you on, kid!” he replies and Izuku, after putting his pencil and notebook back in his yellow backpack, rewards the man with a blinding smile and a both grateful and excited “Thanks!”.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Of course this would happen to me!” mutters Izuku as he makes his way in a fast pace through an alley, red shoes getting wet as he sprints through some puddles of murky water “Even though I know how the heroes apprehend a villain and capture them I just have to stay there till they are done” he sighs heavily and continues his monologue “And now I am in danger of being late to class and wandering around the alleys just to get to school faster. My life, I swear.”

The alley he was going through was ill-lighted which made his dark green hair with raven undertones seem entirely made of black strands instead. His light-colored skin seemed darker as well while his green eyes appeared to be glowing in the dark. He carefully and elegantly walks around the garbage bags and the bottle shards and carefully watches the heavily graffiti sprayed walls – so Izuku likes these graffiti artworks, sue him. Many would be at least a little wary of the eerie look of the alley but, Izuku just keeps moving ahead, entirely familiar with the surroundings, not once looking back, through the dark space until he arrives at the exit. Seeing himself basking in the light of the sun again he blinks rapidly to get his eyes readjusted and continues his way through the deserted road that usually brings him to the back of his school – the Aldera Middle School or as Izuku would describe it – the nest of the Demon Spawns.

‘_Hah… I wonder what insults they would come up with today. Or maybe a miracle would happen and they would leave me alone_’ he thinks with a hint of hope but then he sighs and mutters the followings, resigned “As if that would ever happen…but on the bright side today is Friday and that means I won’t have to deal with them for the next two days”

As he gets closer to the school, Izuku starts lowering his head as if he is trying to hide from the world. His shoulders adopt a defeated kind of posture and his body starts moving sluggishly as if it is trying to delay his arrival to the school for as long as possible. As he walks past a koi pond found close to the school, his mind more preoccupied with what would today bring him, he does not realize he is followed.

Behind him, approaching carefully and silently, a monstrous being grins as if he just won the jackpot of all jackpots. It does not have a human shape but, instead, his whole body seems to be made out of some kind of green liquid – strangely resembling the filthy mud you find at the bottom of the equally dirty water in the sewers. Sharp teeth frame his mouth and big glowing yellow eyes watch every move of the unaware teen. He spreads what could be his arms and lifts himself more while still moving behind slowly.

Izuku felt chills on his back and his feet came to a stop but he doesn’t even have time to look behind before his body is enveloped in a gooey liquid with a strong smell. It held his body in a tight grasp and he almost feels his blood being cut from his legs as he is suspended in the air and his face, on which both disgust and fear could be seen, is lifted until his forest green eyes meet the monster’s yellow ones. Izuku tries to struggle only shiver in disgust at the monster mad giggling. It seems he really lucked out on finding such a weak boy.

Watching Izuku’s futile attempt at freeing himself, the monster almost coos before saying is a faux kind tone “Do not worry little one. It will only hurt for a bit longer and then the pain will disappear …” As he gets closer and closer to Izuku’s face, his muddy tentacles force themselves into the teen’s mouth and nostrils, promptly blocking them so that no air can enter anymore. His tone then changes to a dark, cruel and almost mocking one as he watches Izuku struggling more and more in an attempt to breathe “… and so will you. Just 45 seconds, kid. Don’t worry, I will take good care of your body. If anything, I have to say that you saved me. Thanks, you are my hero, kid. Hahaha hahaha!” he finishes his speech with a burst of cruel laughter.

Izuku feels his eyes water from the lack of air while his struggles came to a stop. He has little energy left in his body but he knows he can get out of this situation. He just needs to be patient. ‘_Remember your lessons. Once he thinks I am dead, he will let his guard down and I can surprise attack him and judging by his appearance his eyes are a major weakness. I just have to hold on until then …_’ he thinks calmly. That is easier said than done.

The monster, however, doesn’t seem to let him an opportunity to strike soon. If anything, Izuku can feel the liquid hold him even more tightly. The monster event starts a countdown to the moment of Izuku’s supposed death. With every second counted by the monster, Izuku feels himself getting sleepier.  
Keeping his mid more awake than before is quite hard but the monster’s countdown even though Izuku knows it is supposed to be more frightening, ends up just amusing him more. _‘Is he for real now? Did he steal that idea from a manga or something? Cause if he did then he’d better be prepared for copyright claims…_’ he thinks while internally sweat dropping at the villain’s cliché act.

The villain’s countdown reaches the 5 seconds mark and Izuku prepares himself. ‘_It is now or never!_’ he thinks, a sharp glint in his eyes, as he attempts to gather the last remaining strength from his body but a yell from the distance catches both Izuku’s and the villain’s attention.

“TEXASSSSSS…..”

His captor seems suddenly intimidated and tried to move both himself and Izuku away but a muscular human with blonde hair and wearing a white shirt, black pants and shoes suddenly appeared in front of his face with his right fist raised and a grim smile on his face. His fist promptly connects with the villain’s face sending him splattering around, thus liberating Izuku from his hold and letting him fall on the pavement, with the scream of:

“SMAAAAAASSSSHHHHHHHHH!”

The blonde man sends a dazzling smile to Izuku as he pulls himself from the punching position to a more upright one and he says in a very loud voice: “NEVER FEAR! WHY? CAUSE I AM-“, but he never gets to finish seeing as Izuku hastily rising up and with a wave and a quick “Hold that thought!” he goes to the nearest trash can and starts emptying his stomach. The man looks a little bit worried and grimaces as he sees the teen’s pale face after he comes back.

Worried, he asks “You ok, kid?” to which Izuku just shrugs and with a raspy voice replies “Could have been worse… so technically I am good, thanks for asking. However, I do believe that I will destroy some toothbrushes for the rest of the week just to get this disgusting taste out of my mouth” and proceeds to shudder in disgust and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand.

The silence that falls on them is awkward. Well, it is always awkward when the Number One Hero in the entire world just saved you (‘_Although I didn’t need saving_’ persists a small part of Izuku’s mind) and you proceed to empty your stomach in front of him, but hey, is not like any other person wouldn’t have done the same.

_‘Yup, All Might – The Number One Hero – is right in front of me. And he basically destroyed the villain…_ ‘, he thinks as he looks at the remains of the sludge villain on the pavement with sympathy. ‘_Truly, his quirk is much more powerful and dangerous than I thought_’

Izuku watches as All Might gathers the villain and put him into two bottles of soda (‘Are you for real? If that is his prison, of course, he would escape! God damn it!’, thinks Izuku is disbelief as he watches All Might, No. 1. Hero starts behaving like a garbage cleaner that is only half-paid) and again All Might looks at him with a worried look.

“You sure you do not need to go to the hospital, kid?” he asks in a little bit of hurry as if the last thing he wants is to stay here and be stared at.

Izuku sighs “Yes, I am sure I do not need to go to the hospital. I will be fine.”

All Might looks a little bit relieved at that. “Ok, then I need to go!” and then look at the villain-in-a-bottle in his left hand “This guy needs to be brought to the police” but before he can leave Izuku yells:

“Please wait! Um…Could you please answer a question of mine?” his voice unsure, as if he is preparing to be rejected in the cruelest way. “It is just one question and I promise to make it quick!” he adds wantin- no, needing to hear the answer just as creatures need oxygen to breathe.

All Might turns slowly towards Izuku and with a well-hidden grimace, he answers “Sure, but make it quick. Ok, kid?” with a laugh.

Izuku nods. _‘Well, here goes nothing…_’ he thinks as he takes a deep breath, steeling himself and continues “I just wanted to ask you… if someone like me who is Quirkless can become a hero?”

Again All Might’s face is shadowed by a poorly ( in Izuku’s opinion) hidden grimace and his big smile seems to become a little forced. “Listen, kid….” he begins unsure and any hope in Izuku’s heart is already gone.  
‘_So, he is just like the others…_’ he thinks clenching his fists and preparing himself for another wave of disappointment and harsh words.

“You saw for yourself how dangerous a villain is. This kind of danger is something Pro Heroes like me face every day. It is ok to dream but you also have to consider what is realistic. Dreaming won’t get you anywhere if you cannot accept reality. That being said, my apologies but, I do not think that you can become a hero without a quirk.” he says hastily as he turns his back to Izuku and seems to prepare himself to jump. A jump he does, but not before throwing a quick wave and a “Take care of yourself!” over his shoulder.

And just like that, he is gone.

Izuku expected to be rejected and seen as a hopeless kid who can only dream about being a hero like this but something in All Might’s speech (if you can even call it that) made him pause. “Dreaming won’t get me anywhere if I do not accept reality, huh?”, he says quietly and a strained smile appears on his face.

‘_Yeah, I guess that is right… .In REALITY, I am no hero after all_.’ Izuku thinks as he gathers his backpack and starts making his way to the school, ignoring the small tears that form in his eyes and threaten to fall down his cheeks. _‘I think I just wanted to make sure I am choosing the right path for myself… or was I just simply running away from my past and reality by trying to delude myself that I can be a hero?’_

“One way or another” Izuku says to himself quietly as he enters Aldera’s Middle Schoolyard “thanks to you, All Might, I have finally decided to face the reality now.”

The young man whose eyes went from bright to dull in those last ten or so minutes puts a shaky hand on the door handle and, with a sob, pushes it, thus opening the way for himself. His face is full of pain as if someone is stabbing his heart repeatedly but despite that, he continues to walk forward, not once looking back. The tone of his voice, although pained, denotes amusement as he moves with quiet steps into the school and it seems as if he is reciting a line from a memory long forgotten.

“After all, we can’t have an assassin run away and become a coward, right?”

Izuku lets out a weird mix between a sob and a laugh as the school’s door slams behind him as if to signify the ending for something… something important.

Indeed, this is truly not the story about a hero or a villain, but this is a story in which the colors red and gray are more predominant, a story about laughter, a story about weeping, a story about blood and consequences but most of all…

**A story about an assassin. **


	2. Chapter 2: Midoriya Izuku - Hero Origins ... or not (part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys!  
Ayame here with a new chapter!  
Phew, this one took like forever to write.  
Again, I want to thank YokoMisaki for her help in proofreading this chapter but I also want to thank YOU for reading this. In less than a week this fanfic got over 500 hits and 46 kudos. You guys are amazing!! Thank you!  
I also want to announce that I will not be able to update in the next 2 or 3 weeks. Ugh... School is running me ragged.  
Either way, please enjoy this chapter!  
PS: This chapter will contain scenes of violence, blood, and bullying! Proceed with caution!

The ringing of a bell is heard throughout the Aldera Middle School halls, an hour after Izuku arrived inside with tears falling on his face, signaling the beginning of the ten or so minute break after the first period.

The greed haired boy, knowing just how ridiculed he will be for both his tardiness and for tear-stained face ( which for the little demons of the school was a “pathetic face that he should be ashamed of showing”), decided to wait for the end of the first period in a bathroom stall, wiping his tears and mentally preparing himself to face the ever-hungry demons he calls classmates and the two-faced tyrants he calls teachers.  
As some would say:” Instead of showing late and be laughed at, it is better to not show at all, right?”

Oh, how Izuku would have liked to go home after the catastrophe that was the encounter with the No.1 Hero himself, All Might… but that is just wishful thinking on his part. If he does not show up at all today, the teachers will call his mom and upon learning that he did leave for school this morning, Izuku won’t put it past them to make up lies to get him in trouble.  
’But then again’ the young man thinks amused ‘they do not know my mom in the sightless so I wonder who will be the one that gets in trouble: me or them?’. As he finished that thought he pushes the door, oh his class open and, steeling himself, he steps in.

Once inside the atmosphere, which before his arrival was what you would call welcoming and kind of warm (’Which is how I heard Hell is in this time of the year’, these words spoken by the mischievous side of Izuku’s mind make his lips almost quirk up into an amused smile, but he holds himself back as to not be seen by the other demonic creatures- oh I mean, classmates, that’s right), changed to a very hostile and dark one, as if it said “Go away, imposter!”.

As he makes his way to the back of the class where his seat is located ( for which, by the way, he was very grateful for since this was he did not have to interact too much with the *ahem* other creatures that surrounded him for 5 to 6 hours every day), he scans each and every one of his classmates whose bodies, due to how he perceives them, were replaced by a black-mist-like-figures with demonic crimson eyes, fangs sprouting from their mouths and sharp horns replacing their ears. Sitting on his chair, the figures stand tall, almost two heads over him, looking down at him with scornful eyes while pointing their finger at him whispering between themselves in a mocking and taunting voice:

“Hey, look! It’s that kid again…”

“Ugh, why does he keeps coming back to school anyway?”

“I know. You’d think he would understand that he is just wasting everyone’s time by now.”

“Do you think he still believes he can be a hero?” laughs one voice

“No way. He should know that it is impossible for someone like him to be a hero.”

“I know, right? He is both powerless and a daydreaming crybaby.”

Izuku keeps his head down, bent in such a way that his green eyes, that had a fierce glare meant to be aimed at the heads of the demons, were hidden by shadows. His body trembled slightly as he clenched both his teeth and hands in an apparent attempt to hold himself back from lashing out.

Clenched fists were promptly set on his knees, body bent over a little over the desk accompanied by light tremors formed the perfect image of submissiveness combined with fear for the vicious demons surrounding him, the only image they believed it is suited for someone like him - someone who has no power to do anything.

The truth, however, was another.

Izuku’s rage-filled eyes were focused now on a pair of scissors he had put down on the desk, before the little demons started speaking about him, along with his writing tools and a notebook. His mind quickly came up with horrifyingly descriptive scenarios as he stared down into the glinting metal.

  
He would reach out with a trembling hand to take the pair of scissors, which were now replaced by a short blade thanks to his disturbing imagination. He would then proceed to push the blade into everyone’s throat, one by one, slashing away without abandon. He would then stop and, as he stands alone in the middle of a pool of blood coming in jets from the dead mangled bodies, he would feel how the warm crimson liquid starts making its way from his hair, down his face and then proceeds to hide at the contact with his black school uniform. Remembering each and every pained groan and scream the demons let out before they went to meet their creator, he brings the bloody blade in his right hand in front of his face eyeing the image reflected by it. The once dark green hair was now blood-soaked and resembled raven hair. His emerald-like eyes now held a wicked glint and were bright with laughter and satisfaction as fresh blood covers almost his entire face. He would then let out a bright and cheerful laugh, borderline psychotic as many would describe it, and even when he would eventually stop the smile will not leave his face. Bright teeth, lips stretching in an almost too wide smile accompanied by the bloody face formed a demonic image. He would then bring the blade even closer to his face, open his mouth and a small pink tongue would dart out lapping at the warm liquid on the sharp edge, wearing a more than satisfied expression.

Not opening his eyes yet, he is brought back to reality by the loud slam of the door, which meant that the tyrant has arrived, and the noise of the scrambling students hastily making their way back to their seats. Due to that disturbingly satisfying scenario, his mind is in a frenzy while his hands and feet are twitching as if they are screaming their approval of the imagined crimes he committed and pushing him from behind to replicate them in real life.  
Swallowing the spit that started to pool inside his mouth, wetting his now dry throat he starts to repeat, like a mantra, the followings:  
’Midoriya Izuku, control yourself! Be the bigger man in this. Remember what you have been thought a long time ago.’  
And then, as if the speaker was right in front of him, a clear voice resonated in his mind bringing back with it memories of the past.  
<<Do you fear something? If you do then discard those fears and start fearing yourself! Fear what you can do, rather than what others can do to you. Remember, fear is a weapon. It is not something that controls you, but something that you alone need to learn how to control. You can either wield it against others or against yourself. >>

Repeating these words a few more times while taking deep breaths, he slowly starts to calm down and by the time the teacher calls his name to see if he is present with a faux sugary tone in her voice as if Izuku could not tell how displeased she really is with his presence in the class. It is only in this moment that Izuku finally opens his eyes, calm emerald green observing the surroundings, feeling far more composed than before and with a resigned intake of breath, he raises his right hand in the air, eyes now not even considering looking on his desk where glinting innocently sat the pair of scissors, and replies with a half-hearted “Here”.

Surprisingly, the rest of the classes went by fast. Well, except for the last one. Currently, Izuku was in his seat, face set in a frown as he scribbled new ideas for hero team combinations on his notebook and pretty much ignoring everything that went on around him as he could almost count the seconds until the bell rings, moment in which Izuku’s mind starts sing-a-song along the ringing with the verses “Go the fuck home and don’t come back!” repeating in his head a little too much.  
The tyrant, dubbed “The Blond Afro Grandpa” by Izuku’s little shit of a mind, sat in front of the class behind the teacher’s desk preaching about how “You need to do something useful with your lives” and bla bla bla. Honestly, Izuku just zoned out after the first two or three words. It is not like he even gave actual good advice. Izuku would know since he was brought back to the reality by the Afro Grandpa screaming “Of course, you all will go to the Hero Course, right?” to which the entire class responded with excited approvals and using their quirks (’ILEGAL’ is what Izuku’s mind yelled at them. Hey, at least they were not required to memorize all the rules currently existing both in Japan and outside of it. ‘Even though they should be’ mumbles frustrated his mind/conscience. Shut it, you. ‘I am you though’ Ugh! Izuku felt a headache coming already).

As the teacher tells them to quit using their quirks (’Oh, geez! So you do care about legislation, good sir’ Izuku’s mind hisses sarcastically), a student with ash-blonde hair and crimson red eyes stands up as he brags about how he will be the only one to enter U.A.’s Hero Course, receiving both enraged comments because he called everyone else an “extra” and awed comments of how U A has like a 0.2% acceptance rate or something like that.

To explain things further, U.A. is a hero oriented High School from the benches of which many of the current Pro Heroes, from the top 10 or otherwise, graduated a long time ago. It still produces heroes like bread to this day, however, to get in is way harder than to graduate from this school. The written exams are brutal and the practical ones are even worse it is said.

Of course, Afro McAfroIdiot just had to single him out by saying “Oh, you want to go to UA as well right, Midoriya Izuku?”. Cue to the blonde boy turning with angry eyes towards him and with both of his hands emitting smoke coupled with the smell of nitroglycerin, sneering at him and yelling a bunch of insults and calling him “Deku” with so much hate in his voice that you could actually feel it.

‘Of course. How could I forget about him?’ wonders Izuku. Well, he supposed, the ash-blonde student did not cause him any trouble till now, but of course, when you are Midoriya Izuku, miracles do not last.  
’Bakugou Katsuki. Quirk: Explosion. His secrets sweat that contains nitroglycerin which he can use to create explosions left and right. Downside: it affects his hands after extended uses or big explosions and if he does not sweat or is fighting in rain his quirk is pretty much useless’ Izuku starts his analysis. ‘Quirk aside, his personality is very… well, not hero-like. So, ladies and gentlemen, meet Katsuki Bakugou- my so-called childhood friend, although we stopped being on talking terms on the day he got his quirk and my personal, one and only bully’ he thinks, in his mind a chibi version of himself staying on a stage and presenting to the public a photo of a very angry Katsuki that bares his teeth almost looking like a dog.

The exact same face Katsuki has right now while looking at him. Oh right, Izuku has to react. The greed haired boy puts on a scared face hoping he does not have to start arguing with him using words since he is not sure if he can stop himself from yelling that he does not want to be a hero anymore. After all, Katsuki does not need any kind of explanation from him. They will get to move on with their life and hopefully never met again so they can forget the other existed.  
’It is in moments like this that I hate how good of a friend my mom is with Bakugou’s parents’ complains Izuku mentally sighing.

For once in his life, Mr. Afro McAfrocity actually does something good and tells Bakugou to stop picking a fight (since he does not want to have his record stained) and sit down, leaving Izuku with a sense of faux relief since not even ten seconds after Katsuki sat down, he turns to glare at him, his gaze saying that this is not over.  
The rest of the class continues as normal and once the bell rings, most of the students leave the classroom leaving only Izuku, who was trying to get away thank you very much, Bakugou and two of his lackeys whose faces are what you can describe as a face that only a mother can love. Bakugou and his lackeys quickly surround him, pinning him with hateful gazes.

“We are not done talking yet, Deku!” comes the angry voice of the blonde. The aura around him screams violence and death and prompts Izuku to think ‘So not hero-like’ while mentally shaking his head in disappointment. His two followers look at him with evil grins and laugh at the scarred face he is putting on right now.

“Who gave you the right to want to apply for UA, nerd? You know that I am the only one who is supposed to go there, right? Just like those top first-string heroes have their own story about their school days, I will have mine. Coming from a mediocre Middle School, being accepted into UA and becoming the No.1 Hero, becoming something even greater than All Might.” said proudly the blonde pointing his thumb at himself, puffing his chest, even more, resembling a peacock.  
However, this is quickly replaced by a displeased expression as he proceeds to poke (painfully, if he might say) Izuku’s chest as he starts talking in a voice that is dripping with anger and that starts getting louder with every word uttered.

“But then, you, a damn Quirkless nerd, who is lower than the lowest, starts spewing bullshit about going to UA and becoming a hero. YOU, who doesn't even have a Quirk, think you can beat me huh? YOU FUCKING NERD!” he ends the sentence screaming as he slowly puts a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. Once he manages to touch his uniform smoke rises from Katsuki’s hand and Izuku feels his shoulder burn under the mini nitroglycerin based explosion coming from the blonde’s hand.

Again, Izuku takes on that submissive and fearful position, looking down at his red shoes as he tries to calm himself down and prays to all the Gods above that Bakugou will not utter the magic word that will break down each and every chain that keeps him from committing murder.

Bakugou and his lackeys laugh at him and start insulting him more using words like “useless”, “good for nothing”, “daydreamer” and most of all, the cruel nickname that Katsuki himself came up with when they were kids (which ironically is also a second reading of the name “IZUKU”), “Deku”. They throw some punches in too, making sure to punch him only on the zones that are covered by his uniform. The entire time Izuku just sits there receiving every punch without making much noise and continues to pray that after this beating he can finally go home.

But, of course, the universe just likes to fuck him up every day. And so, just before leaving the blonde glances at Izuku one more time and with a way too proud smirk said:

“See? This is what you will get if you say that you will go to UA! Don’t you ever dare to cross me again, you damn nerd! And, just because I am feeling generous, I will give you a piece of advice.”

The next words that leave the blonde’s mouth made Izuku freeze, his worst nightmare became true and the last chains that held him back snapped.

“If you want a quirk so badly, then just pray that you will get one in your next life and go take a dive off the roof, you shitty nerd!”

Take a dive off the roof, huh?

So basically, Bakugou was telling him to “Go die!”, huh?

In the green-haired boy’s head the lines: “Be realistic”, “Go take a dive off the roof” and “You’re a waste of space” were spinning. The trembling of his body stopped, his own breath stopped and he would swear his own heart stopped.

EVERYTHING STOPPED.

  
Only for everything to start moving again the next second. Izuku breathed, feeling calmer than ever while his mind whispered in a tiny, childlike voice:

“If they want you to die then…..”

The atmosphere becomes dark in the empty classroom. The three boys shiver unexpectedly, looking at the skinny figure of the young man in front of them. His eyes were hidden in shadows, fists clenching and clenching as if he was supposed to have something in his hands. The aura surrounding Izuku was dark, vile and hungry as if it was starved for years. When he lifted his face, showing his eyes to the other children, they flinched and took some steps backward.  
Fury was burning in Izuku’s eyes, so much so that Katsuki thought his eyes turned from emerald green to a blood-red for a second.

“… JUST KILL THEM!”

Izuku exhales, and with small and slow steps, he walks towards them. The aura around him almost takes the form of a big black wolf, with angry red eyes, sharp teeth and spit falling from its mouth. It stands right next to the green-haired boy, as if protecting him, tail dangerously swaying behind his back.  
The atmosphere is thick and it contains so much pressure that the other children feel as if they cannot breathe. The lackeys start trembling in fear as they fall on their butt on the ground while Katsuki just stays there, frozen, as Izuku gets even closer to him.

The boy stops in front of the blonde, watching him as if he is counting the spots where he could stab with a knife to kill him. His eyes are calculating and cold, glinting in the rays of the sun that came from the window. He opens his mouth and with a voice full of malice and so cold that it could freeze Hell over he says.

“So, you want me to die, huh? News flash, K-a-c-c-h-a-n” his faux honey-like voice emphasizes the once nickname that escaped the same mouth in a friendly and loving tone “I also wished you never existed. All the bullying, all this pain, all this suffering. All of this is because of you. And you think I AM destroying your life? Honey,” he purrs, voice full of hatred “you destroyed mine since we were four!”

Katsuki finches, eyes wide, looking at Izuku as of he is seeing him for the first time.

“Do you know how much I would like to kill you right here and right now? To free myself from you and these shackles I call our friendship and past. The only thing that stops me is the fact that our moms are friends and I don’t want mom to cry.”

The blonde trembles in a mix of fear and anger. He tries to speak but finds his voice missing. His throat is dry and every time he swallows it feels even drier. His heart feels like it will beat right out of his chest and his palms never felt as wet as now. His crimson eyes never once left Izuku’s own green eyes.  
Izuku seemed to smile as he utters the next words while taking his backpack.

“But you know, you dying right now won’t satisfy me at all. You” he points at Katsuki “and your little lackeys” he looks at the other two kids who tremble even more being subjected to his fierce gaze “can go FUCK YOURSELVES!” he finished yelling the last two words.

“I am NOT going to UA or to any hero school. I do not want to anymore. Plus, you becoming a hero after telling me to go commit suicide? Bakugou” he hisses his name “I never pegged you to be such an idiot”

Satisfied with the way the little demons were trembling in fear before him, his smile stretches a little bit more, giving him a psycho like look and calmly walks past Bakugou only stopping for a few moments when they are shoulder to shoulder to say “Let’s make a deal, Bakugou. I stay out of your way and you stay out of mine. I would hate to tell your mother why you won’t be able to walk or breathe again, ne?” he finished with a carefree smile that will haunt Bakugou in his dreams for months to come. Izuku then turns to face the other two and coldly says: ”This applies for you two as well!” and with one last glare he starts walking angrily towards the door of the classroom and onto the school hall, his sole destination being the apartment he calls home.

In his wake, he leaves one petrified Bakugou Katsuki with his mouth ajar trying to make any kind of sound while his entire body trembles like a leaf and his eyes are still focused on the spot Izuku was not long ago. The other two lackeys were still on the floor trembling but if you looked closely to the front of their pants, although it is hard to notice, a wet patch begun to form.

  
The poor, poor three kids could not comprehend what has taken place on that day, in that classroom and from that day on they will try as much as possible to avoid one Midoriya Izuku. Yes, even Bakugou Katsuki will.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even after leaving the school grounds, the dark aura around Izuku did not lessen. Everyone that passed by him shuddered and it got to the point where not even animals had the courage to approach or even walk next to the green-haired boy. As he got closer and closer to the apartment where he lives the aura lessen in intensity but did not disappear completely. In his mind today’s events swirled around making him enter in an even darker mood than before, however knowing that his mother would disapprove of his uncontrollable leaking of killing intent, he did his best to keep it to himself instead of propelling it around like a two-year-old child.

He hastily walked up the stairs until he arrived at the third level of the apartment building and, while still stuck in his thoughts, he opened the door and was greeted with the sight of three kitchen knives, sharpened recently apparently, floating in the air. The moment he closed the door, the knifes suddenly picked up speed and were aimed at him, or more accurately, one was heading to his left leg and would hit his knee if not stopped, another one was targeting his heart and the last one, his head.  
Unfazed and a bit disappointed in the repetitiveness, Izuku dodged the knife that was targeting his led by sidestepping to the right and, with incredible precision, he managed to stop the knives in mid-air by catching them by the blade. He sighed and with a flat voice greeted his mother.

“I am home, mom!” and as he enters the living room he continues, “I told you to not use the set of kitchen knives as projectiles for me to dodge! It is not sanitary, you know?” he finishes exasperated as he takes off his shoes.

Their apartment is not really that big. It has a living room that, a kitchen, his and his mother’s bedrooms and a bathroom, all of which have the necessary furniture you would need. The living room has a table and chairs and a couch that faced the TV. The kitchen and the bathroom were equipped with specialized pieces such as a refrigerator, a bathtub, and a shower, a sink in both rooms and more. The bedrooms were also normal containing beds, nightstands, desks, and a wardrobe.  
All in all, it was quite the normal environment for a 14-year-old boy that lived with only his mother. That is if the family itself was normal actually.

From the kitchen, wearing an apron above the casual pink blouse and dark blue skirt, a woman that you would never think was in her 40s with her dark green hair falling on her shoulders and a shade of forest green coloring her eyes, approached the young boy with a smile.

“Welcome back, Izuku!” she said cheerfully. “Today I brought a new set of kitchen knives, you know? So, these ones” she said taking one of the knives from Izuku’s hands “are perfect for your training, ne?”

Indeed, this family was not normal.

The green beauty was Midoriya Inko, known better in the assassin community as the woman who, at the age of only eighteen years old, managed to secure the No. 2 place in the ranking of the best assassins in the world. Yes, the same Midoriya Inko who is the mother of one weird Midoriya Izuku. Her quirk is a psychic based one that lets her levitate objects and bring them to her or change the trajectory of those objects if they target her. This quirk earned her the code name: Psyren in the assassin community.

Izuku just shakes his head and, after throwing the remaining knife from his hand to the ground, he starts making his way towards his bedroom ignoring his mother’s worried calls of his name. Inko looks after him with hard eyes wondering what must have happened for him to go straight into Assassin Mode and not even drop it after entering the apartment.  
Deciding to let her son calm down, she makes her way back to the kitchen and continues to prepare dinner.

Once inside his room, Izuku just discards his backpack on the floor and decides to take a shower. Leaving his room with a change of clothes, he walks to the bathroom and, once inside, after undressing, he opens the jet of water and enters under it. He just lets the water fall on him as he regulates his breathing and begins thinking of how to tell his mother that normal life is not going to work for him anymore like this. In his head, words from three years ago can be heard: <<You are just 12 years old. Do not discard your life and take the killer’s path yet, young man. Until you are 16, both you and your mother will live separated from this community. I hope that after 4 years you can make a choice that will satisfy you: living a normal life or … becoming the splendid assassin that you already are once again.>>

By the time he opens his eyes, which he did not remember closing, the room was full of steam from the warm water and sighing he whispers: “I am sorry mom…. Just this once I need to be selfish and bring you back to that world..”

~~~~~~~

One hour later finds both mother and son at the table eating. Izuku was looking down at his plate with dull eyes, thinking of how to break the news to his mother. Just as he steeled himself and decided to actually start speaking, Inko, in a worried voice, asked:

“Are you alright, Izuku? Today, when you came home, you were leaking Killing Intent and now your eyes look so lifeless, honey. Do you have problems at school? Maybe I can help with-…”

Izuku’s voice cuts right through the stream of his mother’s words, bringing her attention to her son.

“That is not it, mom!” He opens his mouth to continue but instead, after a brief pause, he seems to change tactics and asks in a small voice: “You do remember what happened 3 years ago, right?”

In front of him, Inko’s eyes widen as she brings a hand to her mouth and whispers in a trembling voice “You don’t mean…?” to which Izuku can only nod.

“Yes, I have made my decision and… and I know it is very selfish for me to say this but... “ Izuku clenches his hands and with a determined gaze he looks straight in the eyes of his mother and continues:

“But… I have decided to go back to being an assassin, mother!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TEN MONTHS LATER…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sound of the door opening envelops the silence in the dark room. A man with spiked black hair and onyx eyes enters, wearing a black suit with a white shirt underneath and matching black tie and shoes. His face is serious and seems as if he is glaring at what is in front of him.

The room is mostly empty, save for a shelf full to the brim with books, located to his left, a desk on which papers sat in almost total disarray accompanied by a piece of paper on which, in bold letter, “GOVERNOR OF JAPAN” was written and a chair on which sat a person. The person has his back turned to the dark-haired man but their voice was clear as they, which apparently was a male, spoke.

“Karasuma Tadaomi. Do you know why you have been called here?”

“No, Sir. But if I were to take a wild guess, is it connected to the incident from a week ago,” said Karasuma in a serious voice that left no room for buts or ifs. He always had a good intuition that saved his life many times in his career after all.

The other male noded, unseen and replies “Yes, indeed, it has to do with that. That monster” begins in a voice full of hatred “ wants to teach some children he specifically choose. You will inform each of them about this once he gives us the list and you will also become a teacher for their class so that you can keep an eye on him. This is your mission. Dismissed!”

Karasuma clenches his fists and with a voice that contained different layers of anger spoke.

“But, Sir, why are you going along with that villain's wish? Can’t you just call All Might instead of putting these children in so much danger? I do not think that your plan is-…”

The other man’s voice interrupts him, freezing him to the core with its cold tone.

“Karasuma, are you defying me? If not, then I assure you that your input is not necessary. Now, do yourself a favor and follow the orders you are given without question. This way it is better for everyone. Am I clear?” he asks and when he hears no reply, his voice becomes even colder as he asks the same question: “I said, am I clear?”

Karasuma replies with “Crystal clear, sir!”, excuses himself and walks out the room, slamming the door with force, the sound echoing. The man pays this no heed as he whispers to himself: “ We will destroy that monster no matter what!” with conviction and he, once again, is left alone in the ill-lighted room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile…

In a prison, two guards were trembling while hearing mad giggling coming from the cell they were in front of. The poor men looked like they haven’t slept in days. The sudden laughter heard from the inside of the cell made them tremble even more and shudder.

Inside the cell, sitting at a desk which was full of papers on which the names of different middle school children were written, was a creature resembling an octopus that seemed way to cheerful for someone who sat in a prison cell. It had tentacles instead of arms and feet and a ball-like head. Its face was set in an ever-present grin. Its voice had quite a high register as it starts giggling like a mad man-… octopus every now and then and its skin was of a very bright yellow.

After it put one file on which the name “Shiota Nagisa” was written on the top of another 26 other files neatly put in a pile, its tentacles are brought above its head looking as if it is stretching them as a human would after working for a long time. While doing this one of its tentacles hits a pile of files that end up on the floor scattered. Hurrying to gather them all its interest is caught by one of them. It looks normal for anyone else, but its small eyes glint as he looks over the name written on the file.

“MIDORIYA IZUKU”

Its grin becomes even bigger as it scans the file before putting it on the pile with the other 26 files. Its laugh and eyes seem amused as it scans the now 27 files on the desk. A very dark aura surrounds the creature as it opens its mouth to speak.

“My, my” the creature says “The next three years sure will be interesting, ne?”

It stands up, the dim light allowing us to see its clothing. A black academic dress covers its body and a large lack tie with a yellow crescent-shaped moon on it is visible just under its head.

The creature takes in one tentacle the pile consisting of 27 files and another tentacle takes the small squarish academic cap with a yellow tassel from the hanger and proceeds to put it on his head. He catches the attention of the guards and in a very amused voice he says:

“Excuse me but, I need to give this” one of his tentacles points at the pile of files “ to the government. Can one of you open this cell?”

The two tremble as they open the door and let the creature out. It disappears in a matter of seconds after the cell was opened leaving two shaking men behind, not before thanking them.

The last thought that crosses the creature’s mind after leaving the cell was “ The game starts now!”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BLOOPERS:
> 
> Me *finished writing the Izuku imagines killing his classmates scene*  
Me *speaking *: Phew, now onto the next scene  
MY MIND *Okay, but since when was Izuku, Joker?*  
Me *re-reads the scene I just wrote*  
Me*speaking and banging my head on the laptop* JUST WHY BRAIN? WHY??????


	3. Chapter 3: How to Train Your Assassin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, internet!  
Ayame here and can I just say: I AM ALIVE! AND FREE! AND... very late*pleasedon'tkillme*  
*looks at the war zone in front of me* No one is attacking me? Great!  
Now, it has been 4 long months (add the *It has been 84 years* meme here), but now I am back with another chapter of this fanfic (No, I have not abandoned it. Izuku will kill me in my sleep if I did)  
So now, onto the part where I make excuses- I mean, explain myself, yeah...  
Well, basically the lateness of this chapter can be explained by the following formula:
> 
> University being a bitch x 3 essays of 7 pages each + my health behaving strangely x 2 months + exams x 5 + a 10k words x 2 days of editing (yeah, it was that bad *Thank you, Misaki*) = this chapter!
> 
> I want to thank every single person that liked, commented or even read my fanfic! You guys literally kept me alive so thank you so much!
> 
> On another topic, this weekend I might post an original work! (I have found the first chapter/prologue sitting around in an old writing app of mine so I said why not post it here)
> 
> So, without further ado, please enjoy this 10k+ words chapter!

_Monday, 21 April 2016_

_Hour: 05:55 a.m._

_Japan, Musutafu- Dagobah Beach_

The new week began with nice weather for the inhabitants of Musutafu. The cold morning breeze is refreshing. You could hear the birds chirping and the cries of seagulls along with the noises made by human society waking up after a restful sleep. Adults, realizing that they might be late for work, were taking their cars out as fast as possible. Teenagers and others in their 20s were dressed in sports clothes, preparing for a run around some parks, accompanied or not by their dogs. Few could even be seen running around close to the beach of the city.

Indeed, it was a very good beginning of the week for everyone in this small town. That is if we exclude a green-haired boy of 14 years old named Midoriya Izuku, who, dressed lightly in the cold air and looking like he could fall asleep on his feet, was cursing his own life this early in the morning.

In front of him, his mother, Midoriya Inko, dressed in a black sports jacket with green highlights, black pants coupled with green snickers, was grinning ear to ear as if she just found a way to realize world peace. Behind her, in all its unholy glory, was a beach full of heaps of thrash. The once beautiful beach with shiny clean sand was now obscured by rusted appliances and on the side, you can even see a truck, or what was left of it.

Izuku, the poor, poor boy, was tired beyond belief and, with bags under his eyes, you can clearly say that he looked more dead than alive. His body was shivering lightly from the cold breeze and due to how lightly he was dressed. Wearing a white shirt and black pants as part of his uniform, accompanied by his obligatory red shoes was not the best choice for this morning. On his right side, his yellow backpack was innocently, on top of which his black jacket was put, leaning against one of the towers of trash. His unimpressed and tired stare was focused on his still grinning mother. His voice was flat and raspy as he tried to put into words what was haunting his thoughts for the last hour:

“Mom, you know that I love you very much, right? And I know that I accepted your help last Friday in the matter of training. But I have to ask you a very important question and I do hope you won’t be angry with me afterward.”

Inko, instead of verbally responding, just tilted her head to the side not once losing her grin. Izuku took a deep breath and, in the next moment, the echoing loud shout he let loose made birds that were sitting peacefully on the branches of a nearby tree to flee scared out of their minds:

“WHAT THE FUCK, MOM?” 

_FLASHBACK ( Friday, 18th April 2016)_

_“I have decided to become an assassin once again, mom!”_

_Hearing these words coming from the mouth of her own son, Inko froze. Dinner has long been forgotten by both mother and son. Inko, mustering her courage, looked straight into the eyes of her child. They were clear. The emerald-colored eyes were bright and not clouded by uncertainty. Her child… her Izuku was serious about this. About going back to that world filled with blood and violence. That world that once took her in too. The world where Izuku was born._

_Closing her eyes for a moment, she sighed internally, worry for Izuku already rearing its ugly head. Images of Izuku after that incident started flooding her mind. Izuku, with soulless eyes, eyeing his trembling hands in front of a pool of blood. Izuku having a nightmare, trashing in his sleep with tears on his cheeks and emitting small sounds full of fear. Izuku freezing when someone, even Inko herself, would touch him. How he would flinch and then apologize while wearing a fake smile. How he would constantly wash his hands for minutes to no end. How lost he looked sometimes, just staring straight ahead with no aim._

_But then, Inko remembered the time before the incident. Her Izuku smiling, laughing with his fellow assassins-in-training and friends. His excited face when training and learning new moves or when he was handed a new weapon to master. His confident look when put against foes and his victorious smirk when he defeated them._

_Inko’s mind was still complaining however. //He is just a child. He is my child! He needs to be safe, protected and kept away from that ruthless world!//. But her heart knew better. Izuku already made his decision. And when he makes a decision, he never stopped till what he decided was fulfilled, no matter what. Even if Izuku had to fight Inko, herself, he wouldn’t stop. He would go forward without her._

_Inko, although she was not confident that this is the right choice for him or forgive herself if Izuku dies because she let him go back to that world, decided something for herself. She has to be strong for him. That world will bring back bad memories for both of them, but Inko has to support Izuku. It is her duty as a mother and besides, it was her naivety that brought Izuku in the assassin world in the first place. She has to take responsibility._

_As many would say: “If you can’t fight them, join them!”. And as such, Inko will join Izuku even if they have to go against the world itself._

_Opening her eyes, which were now calm and calculated, Inko felt a grin spreading on her face. She leaned forward to support her elbows on the table while her hands made a supporting platform for her to put her chin on. She looked at her son, a serious expression on her face:_

_“Well then, if you are really sure about this…” she paused, waiting for confirmation from her son. Izuku was taken aback and confused, he just nodded his head numbly. Seeing this, Inko continues. “... How about I train you for the physical exam?”_

_END OF FLASHBACK_

Inko’s grin does not fall from her face, however, her eyes seem to send mini-arrows directed at Izuku for that cuss. Seeing Izuku not affected by that whatsoever, she sighs and explains again to her son what she told him earlier:

“As I said before and I do hope you actually listened to me” she begins, glaring now at a sheepish looking Izuku “the community… I mean- our community holds a physical exam every six months to welcome and classify new or already existing assassin from the community that left for training.” Her voice was grim and serious. She knew just how hard those exams were. Going against selected active assassins. Being judged by the elders of the community. In this test you can easily die if the elders decide that you are a threat to the community itself and no one is allowed to go against them on these decisions.

But God be damned if Inko will let Izuku back in the community without training him to be able to survive there.

“And on this exam rests all of your hopes to become an assassin once more. However, I will NOT let you go against active assassins like this” she continues while making a hand motion towards Izuku’s body “even more with the fact that in the last 3 years you have not trained properly.” 

Inko reaches in her jacket’s pocket and with a swift movement, takes out a small knife-like weapon and hurls it at Izuku, prompting the young man to duck his head fast to escape from a most likely fatal injury.

Inko just smiles and joyfully adds: “Well, lack of training in everything but reflexes that is.” She was puffing up with pride. In her voice pride and joy were evident as much as they were on her face. Her body language, however, could make people mistake her for a high-school girl in love due to her young appearance despite the fact that she was in her 40s and the seemingly pink aura that was surrounding her. “After all, you are my son. Of course, you will have god-like reflexes like yours truly.” she continues happily, losing herself in a storm of compliments addressed to her son (and indirectly to herself as well).

The green-haired boy was currently engaged in the process of evading little heart-like projectiles that seemed to come from his mother’s aura. Izuku took a step back, successfully evading both the projectiles and the even more embarrassing comments spoken by his mother. His face was painted with confusion mixed with both exasperation and resignation. Today surely wasn’t his day, was it?

“Um… thanks, I guess?” he scratches the back of his head in confusion.

He waits a little bit for his mother to stop gushing over his skills in dodging imminent death and start explaining just HOW is this training gonna unfold. After all, he has only 5 more months before the exam. He has every right to be in a hurry with such a small window of time.

He waits 1 minute, which becomes 2 and then 3 and all the way to 5 minutes, after which, exasperated and annoyed he exclaims: “Mom, be serious! If I need to train for the exam why am I here at boo in the morning?” and points behind Inko at the towers of smelling garbage.

Inko stops abruptly, straightens her back and sheepishly coughs in her hand, a bit embarrassed at her own behavior. Her facial expression goes from happy to serious in but one second. Her eyes inspect Izuku from head to toe, making him squirm just a tiny little bit.

Seeing her sudden change of behavior, Izuku can almost hear the obligatory sarcastic “Bipolar much?” comment that his mind seems to add in moments like this. Seriously, if he didn’t know better, he would say that his own mind has a mind of its own._ “But… wouldn’t that mean that the mind of his mind also has a mind of its own?”_ is the flying thought that enters his mind upon some thinking. _“Oh god….The MINDCEPTION! Fuck! No, no, nope! I am NOT starting that discussion here in my head right now!”_

While still lamenting the poor functionality of his brain this early in the morning and internally screaming that he really hates his life, Izuku is brought back to reality by the voice of his mother.

“Cleaning this will stand as training for you dear” she pointed to the garbage behind “and I mean all of it!” she puts a hand up before Izuku can dissolve in a complaining mess and continues, seeing that she has her son’s attention.  
”Since in the last 3 years you have not trained at all in physical power you lost it. The only skills that have not rusted are reflexes and intelligence. I have no idea how proficient you are in weapon mastery but we can worry about that later. Right now, you are lacking in speed and your muscles are honestly non-existent, dear.” said Inko continuing to scan and analyze his body with her eyes.

Alright, Izuku can agree that he looks more like a squishy plush toy than a trained assassin right now, but… can he just say… _Ouch!_ His pride just took a critical hit from that comment alone. _Don’t you just… love, mothers?_  
Unaware that she might have just... destroyed her own son’s pride as a man, Inko continues her explanation, turning her back to Izuku and looking over the unholy amount of trash around.

“And as for how is cleaning this gonna help you, it is very simple. In order to clean the entire beach, you will need to use all of your muscles. For your other skills that need training such as speed, you will be required to wear weights while both fighting against me and while you are cleaning. And of course, I am not gonna make cleaning this easy for you Izuku so please keep your guard up at all times, alright?”

Izuku was quite dumbfounded. He knew that his mother was far from being a real tyrant when training others but still. “How can you even make things harder than they already are?”. You know what? Scratch that! Izuku really, truly did not want to know that at this moment.

“Izuku, dear,” said his mother turning just so that their eyes can meet “I will be frank with you. Your instincts and intelligence surpassed long ago the criteria set by the assassin community, meaning that once you regain your speed and musculature you will be ready for the exam. But I am worried about you. You will be up against professional assassins that are still active to this day and this might also bring back bad memories for you” her voice was heard, suddenly overwhelmed by sadness.

Izuku knew this already. It was hard to make this decision after all and it is not like he forgot about that incident either. However, for a while now, he felt like that world was calling to him. Maybe that meeting with All Might was the world’s way of saying that the assassin community needs him? Or maybe it was just Izuku wanting to go back to that world and he used All Might’s rejection as an escape from the boring normality that he felt every day for the last 3 years? The world and Izuku may never know. However, one thing Izuku knows is the present. He already made the decision to go back and he won’t run away from this choice. Even if it meant facing old demons of the past.

“Mom” he began speaking softly, his voice full of determination and eyes focused on his mother’s “I know it is dangerous and that it might open wounds I never wanted to open again. But I do not wish to run away from both my past and my future. I want to walk forward and leave the bad things behind. Becoming a hero was our dream, that much is true. But I don’t think I will be able to leave the past behind like that. I will just start remembering more and more to the point where I will be too blinded by the past to live the future. This is why I want to say: I am sorry” he bows down under his mother’s shocked gaze and continues. “I am sorry for every problem that this decision of mine will bring. I am sorry for every ounce of worry that you will feel for me from now on. I am sorry for every tear that you will shed on my stupid self’s behalf. But, above all, I am sorry for every bad memory that I am gonna bring back with this decision of mine, mother!”

Izuku’s eyes started tearing up at the end of his speech, feeling deeply ashamed for the pain that his mother will go through due to his decision. Inko’s own eyes were already shedding tears, but since Izuku did not lift his head yet, those tears remained unnoticed. Inko brought the cloth of her jacket to her eyes, whipping those stray tears away and she proudly stared at her son. Bad thoughts or shedding tears was not what Izuku needed right now. Inko won’t hold her own son back. If he can move forward then… so can she.

“Then” Inko started speaking with a small smile on her face, making Izuku finally drop the bowing position and make, once again, eye contact with her. “I reckon that by the end of these 5 months, you will be more than ready to go against any professional assassin the elders may choose and defeat them. After all, you are my son and if this makes you happy then, I am happy to follow you, Izuku.”

The soft tone of her voice, the noticeable softness of her eyes. It almost made Izuku cry again, just like when he was but a kid. His mother understood, she never felt sorry for having him despite his Quirkless status and she always comforted him when he was crying. To repay all this kindness, all the encouragement and support and all the pain she had to and will have to face because of him, Izuku can only think of one single thing to do. To become stronger. Strong enough to reassure his mother. Strong enough to face the difficulties that life will throw at him. Strong enough to overcome the past and be able to look forward to the future.

He steps forward. The first step... His first step onto the new future that is ahead of him. The first step towards healing and the first step towards completing his destiny. His starting line.

A determination of steel. A hearth of gold. A single child-like voice telling him_ “It’s alright! Go on without me!”_. A single though coming together as his green eyes observe the obstacles he has to face.

_“Let the training begin!”_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Location: Aldera Middle School_

_Hour: 08:00 a.m._

Ding, dong, ding, dong

The toll of the school bell announced the beginning of the courses. The little devils took their seats quickly. In the back of the class, tired and half asleep, sat Izuku. While everyone was making small talk about what has transpired for them in the last 2 days, Izuku…. was taking back** EVERYTHING** good he said about his mother. That woman was a slave driver.

In just two hours Inko had Izuku thinking that he should have never agreed to let her train him. In these two hours, Izuku tried (read: failed) to move as much trash as he could while Inko either was increasing the amount of trash that he was struggling with already or she was throwing different sharp objects at him with the excuse of “You have to be more aware of your surroundings, Izu-kun!”.

May God be praised for making the uniform of his school black! This is the only silver lining he can find right now. Underneath the black jacket, muddy and having seen better days, was a white shirt, or what was supposed to be a white shirt. The amount of falls he took this morning is crazy. Izuku is just happy that because of the black jacket no one is gonna question him. Now, if only his hair will just stop looking like he never combed it this morning… but that may just be wishful thinking on his part.

His hair was, as we say in the business, a mess. If someone told him that instead of hair he was actually wearing regurgitated cat hair that sat drying in the sun for three days Izuku would believe them. At this rate, the state of his hair might just get more than just a few disgusted and confused stares.

_“Speaking of stares…”_ he wonders looking around at his classmates. All of them were avoiding eye contact with him and were not even insulting him._ “This is strange… Could it be that today is the *Ignore Izuku day*? If so then this is a miracle. The last time this day happened was almost 1 year ago, I think.”_ he thinks happily. Finally, a day in which he can relax at school! Izuku truly feels blessed.

Unbeknownst to him, Bakugou’s lackeys, scared out of their mind of Izuku, spread some… unbelievably exaggerated rumors about him based on what has transpired last Friday. There were different versions. Some were depicting Izuku as a delinquent or as the boss of a street gang. Others were saying that Izuku is the heir of a Yakuza family and that he wanted revenge on the school for the poor treatment he endured over the years. Some more, ahem inspired, people were even considering the possibility of Izuku being an assassin, but that theory was quickly shut down. After all, assassins are just an urban legend. As of now, they only appear in RPG games as one of the classes you can choose to be part of when you make your character. There is no way that they actually exist.

These kids surely hit the bull’s eye without even knowing it, huh?

The two lackeys were now stealing glances over their shoulders at the green-haired boy. Just seeing him sitting there made them tremble in fear. Their minds still played back the events of last Friday and in the past couple of days, the poor boys could not escape night terrors. It is fascinating to see how just one little event could make people, who would otherwise not even think twice about inflicting as much damage as they can to somebody, wish they never have to deal with that same person ever again, isn’t it?

However, out of the three boys involved, only one of them has spent the last couple of days seething and trying to find a way to both release the boiling anger that coursed his body and to take revenge on the stupid nerd for looking down on him.

Currently, Bakugou Katsuki was sitting in his usual spot, front row in class, with clenched fists, as the words of one Midoriya Izuku swirled in his mind. He was already annoyed enough by the fact that the little fucker was defying him by saying he will become a hero, and now this. Humiliating him and ordering him around as if Katsuki were a fucking dog? He won’t stand that. The damn nerd will learn today, after school, that you don’t humiliate Bakugou Katsuki and expect to live and tell the tale. He will fucking kill the damn nerd.

But, as in many other cases, the body is far more honest than the mind.

Katsuki may still be immersed in thoughts of revenge but, as the words Izuku uttered back then, filled to the brim with the promise of bodily harm, came back again and again to haunt his mind, his body trembled slightly. The small tremors were not visible to anyone who didn’t know what to look for. Clenched as they may be, his hands were drenched in sweat and his heartbeat was escalating by the moment, as the presence of the one person Katsuki currently wants dead felt even more pressuring than last Friday. He could almost feel Izuku breath in the back of his neck and just the image of this scenario send chills down Katsuki’s spine.

But Katsuki wasn’t afraid. He couldn’t be. Not of the little fucker. No matter what the rumors said about him, Katsuki knew Izuku. He knew that the nerd couldn’t even hurt a fucking fly. The nerd is a crybaby and Katsuki will eat his underwear if the fucker could even land a real punch on someone. That nerd is not strong. He is weak. He is scared of his own shadow. He is useless. He is… is…

_‘He is capable of killing you~!’_ singsongs a traitorous voice.

No! That is not true in the slightest. The damn nerd is not able to kill anyone. He is disposable. Just a damn persistent extra that Katsuki can get rid of easily. He is not dangerous… right?

_‘Are you asking me that?’_ laughed the voice mockingly. _‘You are the one who froze up when he threatened you, aren’t you?’_

No. You are wrong!

_‘Am I really? Then why are you trembling when you think about him now?’_

I am NOT! Shut up!

_‘You do realize that I am you, right? You can’t hide anything from me Ka-tsu-ki-kun~’_ replies the voice amused._ ‘Anyway, shouldn’t you be overjoyed?’_

Huh? Why?

_’Ha, he even asks me why!_’ laughed the voice. _‘Why? Because! Last Friday, Izuku just told you that he won’t become a hero anymore, right? Then he won’t be an obstacle for you anymore. Have you already forgotten that?’_

What do you--?

_‘And yet, here you are, angry, sad, disappointed and scared._’ sniggers the voice.

WHO IS SAD AND SCARED, YOU MOTHERFUCKER?

_‘You, of course! And congrats, you just called yourself a motherfucker.’_

FUCK OFF!

Time flew by as Katsuki argued more and more with his own persona. The more he argued, the angrier he became. What does that cursed voice even know about him? Katsuki is not sad. And he is NOT scared. Not of the damn nerd, the damn cursed voice or anyone else. He is strong. He has a strong quirk and is better than anyone else. The others are just annoying fucking extras for him.

And why the hell should he care if the nerd gives up becoming a hero? All the better for him, if you ask Bakugou. At least the nerd won’t stand in his way anymore. And Katsuki is happy about that, thank you very much. But, that does not change the fact that Izuku humiliated him. The fucker will pay. That, Bakugou swears.

Before he knew it, the bell rung signaling the end of the school day for the children. Bakugou barely paid any attention to the classes. He spaced out most of the time, too busy arguing with that annoying voice in his mind.

And now as he leaves the school grounds he feels more agitated than ever. His hands keep clenching and unclenching as he scans the wave of students that are exiting the school, searching for a peculiar green-haired individual that needs to be put in his own place.

Finding himself unsuccessful in his efforts to spot the younger boy, he scans the streets and catches a glimpse of a yellow school bag pack, whose owner was currently going in the opposite direction from his home. Now, confused, Katsuki wonders if the damn brain of the nerd was fried in the meantime and now he forgot where his home was. They, unfortunately, have to take the same way home since their houses are close to one another.

Well, no matter. Katsuki is still gonna teach the nerd a lesson he will never forget. He just has to catch him in a more… private place where the lesson can begin. That will teach him to not make fun of Bakugou Katsuki.

He takes a step towards the boy, who looked too caught up in his own thoughts, but suddenly freezes. His body stopped listening to him without warning. Katsuki feels his breath getting faster, along with his heartbeat. His mouth suddenly feels dry and as much as his hands were covered in sweat all day, right now they felt cold as ice. As his body starts trembling, he feels a knot in his stomach forming and the sudden taste of bile accumulating in his mouth.

He tries to calm himself but to no avail.

Closing his eyes tightly while trying to get his breathing under control, Katsuki remembers Izuku’s eyes piercing right through him. Cold, devoid of any emotion besides a small amount of hatred that seemed to have slipped in. And his voice, so similar to his eyes, filled his mind repeating the threat again and again. Repeating the words _“You destroyed my life since I was four”_ and_ “Do you know how much I would like to kill you?”_. As much as he denies this, that Izuku, the one that wants to kill him and that seems capable of killing him, frightened him.

But it does not make any sense! Izuku was supposed to be just a pebble in his way, weak, disposable and useless in every way. So, why? Why is Katsuki feeling scared of the nerd? Why is Katsuki not able to move anymore towards him? Why?

His breath is getting too fast already, so much so that he feels like he is having a panic attack. Katsuki tries again to move. He has to. He needs to prove that he is stronger, that he is better. The nerd is not gonna make fun of him and get away with it. But he couldn’t.

Unable to move forward, Katsuki stares now at the figure of the younger boy, that now seemed to be way out of reach for Katsuki. In his mind, whispered just as at the time they were spoken, the last words Izuku addressed Katsuki could be heard: _“Let’s make a deal, Bakugou. I stay out of your way and you stay out of mine.”_

Grinding his teeth, he averts his eyes from the younger boy’s figure and, turning around, Katsuki breaks into a sprint to his own home. He does not look back, but as he runs, his eyes become wet with tears of shame, fear and, as much as he would deny it, a little amount of guilt. He cannot turn back time anymore, even if he wanted to.

And so, Bakugou Katsuki, until the end of the school year, avoids being in the company of one Midoriya Izuku, be it at school or otherwise.

Meanwhile, completely unaware of the emotional breakdown that Katsuki had, Izuku is currently walking towards Dagobah Beach, where his mother, as it is stated in the last message received from her, “is waiting with the vehicle acquired specifically for transporting the thrash”.

Looking over the screen of his phone one more time, Izuku sighs and prays that his mother hasn’t “borrowed” the vehicle without at least telling the owner, again… Sigh. He really hates his life sometimes.

~~~~~~~

Days passed by quickly and what Izuku thought would be a once in a year event started repeating to the point it became a daily occurrence. His classmates ignored him, going as far as to dash out of the room just so that they never remained alone with him. The teachers, well, they still mocked him form time to time, but the fear of Izuku that the students harbored seemed to be quite contagious as, not long after the children started avoiding Izuku, the teachers followed suit, only more subtle…

In their defense, having a student leer at you for the entirety of the class, with eyes that seemed soulless and a carefully crafted emotionless expression is not something that they want to deal with every day. (And how in the name of Shining Baby can that child take notes without looking down to his notebook, they will never understand)

As for Izuku, well, he remains blissfully unaware of the ever-growing fear of his classmates and teachers. Instead, he is more worried about his mother’s, ahem, “habit” of taking stuff without telling. (”And yes mom. I am looking at that red truck that you’ve got there.)

~~~~~~~~~~

_Thursday, 14th of July 2016_   
_Location: Dagobah Beach_   
_Hour: 11:55 pm_

A high-kick coming from his left. Close. Moves backward two steps and counters with a punch. It misses. Damn it!

_“Has anybody ever asked themselves why are there so many bird cries?”_

Sharp nails almost graze his cheek as he steps back again to dodge, defensive stance in place and eyes following each and every move of his opponent.

_“I mean, there are so many birds out there and some of them even have similar-sounding cries to each other.”_

He dives into another round of attacks, taking advantage of a slip in his opponent's guard, but they are easily parried. Fuck! She is getting serious and I am not in the best shape now.

_“Why did God decide to make things harder for people? He could have at least make the birds, I dunno… Cry out their names instead of the usual bird cry they make. You know, like those creatures from that old cartoon, Pocket Monsters”_

Sharpened small knives make their way and embed themselves into the sand at his feet, startling him and prompting him to lose his balance.

_ “While I do admit it will be weird to hear an American Crow cry <<Corvus brachyrhynchos>> instead of the simple <<kraa!>> sound, it will help the ornithologists all over the globe. Poor guys have it rough.” _

Before he can regain his footing, a hand grabs his arm and with little to no effort, he is thrown over the shoulder of his attacker.

_'So, God, tell me: Why not go easy on them?'_

The next things he registers are how pretty the stars looked, how much his ass hurts from the impact with the sand and how heavy his breathing was, only now, after a few hours, noticing the rapid rise and fall of his chest as he laid in the already cold and uncomfortable sand.

The pretty stars are obscured by the face of his mother, green eyes twinkling with a mix of amusement, pride and a hint of fatigue that was cleverly hidden from anyone who didn’t know her. Izuku knew that while he was a mess and looked like one too, that did not mean his mother wasn’t tired either. Hidden or not, small or not, that fatigue proved that he was getting better. His body seemed to remember the training from his childhood better than his brain did and this spar against his mother was proof of that. In just three short months he recovered most of his muscles thanks to his mother’s downright sadistic methods of training. At school, he was dead tired, but thankfully his grades did not suffer much due to his exhausted state. Sometimes it pays to be the nerd of the class.

He is brought back from his day (read: night) dreaming by the voice of his spartan teacher that doubles as his mother in daylight.

“Izuku, you’ve made progress! Now, let’s help you up. We have something to talk about.”

A hand is extended to him and, as tired as he was, he makes an effort to take it, getting back on his feet and immediately starting to shake each and every grain of sand that made their way into his clothes. God, how he hated sand at this very moment.

Seeing himself free from most of the discomfort created by the sand (although he could not wait to get home and have a long and well deserved hot bubble-bath. - “I couldn’t care less about it being girly, Mom!” -) he raised his face, eyes meeting his mother’s and, questioningly, he raises an eyebrow.

Inko just chuckles and shakes her head, clearly amused at her son’s attics. She knew that a tired Izuku meant a silent Izuku and, in the worst cases (and those only happened when the boy was put on morphine in the hospital after another reckless move in a mission), it meant a non-stop muttering Izuku whose sole purpose is to make debates on topics, some of which should have never been discussed. Ever…

She points at what is behind and asks, amused, what does he see. Izuku turns, takes a long look at the perfect view of the ocean waves hitting the sand and managing to drag with them various shells of different sizes, forms, and colors; at the clear night sky covered in twinkling stars that reflect on the ocean’s water along with their queen, the moon, who illuminates the surroundings enough for both mother and son to avoid a fall and injury scenario.

He stares at it for a full few minutes then returns his gaze towards his mother. His face clearly conveys the frustration and the confusion he feels, not understanding what his mother is getting at. There is nothing there after all.

_…Wait! There is nothing!?_

His face goes from confusion to shocked, eyes widening and mouth going slack, as realization struck him.

There was nothing. No broken appliances or thrash dirtying the clear sand or obscuring the view of the ocean. This cleanliness spread across half the beach he was supposed to clean in five months.

_But that means… it means…_

“Yes. You cleaned half of the beach in three months Izuku.” his mother voices his thoughts, pride coloring her voice.

Izuku stares. Half of the beach (the beach on which he has been training for the last couple of weeks without even realizing it is getting cleaner) is clean now; Clean of dirt, clean of rusted and destroyed appliances.

Clean. Just clean.

How and when are questions that circle around the boy’s mind. He didn’t even realize that this happened. And, to be honest, since the training/cleaning sessions started, he was more interested in staying alive rather than keeping track of his progress.

Inko felt proud seeing Izuku’s expression. Proud to be the one training him now, proud that she was there, seeing the progress her son made, proud to be his mother, even more on this day…

Looking at him, Inko noticed the changes in his appearance. His hair was longer now, reaching almost to his shoulders. It seemed that, even though Izuku never wanted to have longer hair, it did not bother him. And it did suit him.  
He grew a few inches too since the start of the training. But his biggest change was the musculature of his body. The baby fat that he acquired in those three years of retirement was starting to diminish and muscles started to become more prominent on his body.

All in all, her baby was growing up and that made her both sad and at the same time happy.

Her heart was still blooming with pride, eyes soft, but still retaining the amused look when she decided it was time to bring Izuku back from his thoughts into the real world once more.

“Although” she began “I have to say that your progress is incredible, I wonder if I can do something about that habit of yours.” she continued, not succeeding in enlightening the boy, but instead confusing him even more. She sighed.

“Izuku, I could tell that your mind was not focused at all on our spar. I have to wonder, just what could have distracted you so much dear?” she asked teasingly.

The green-haired boy, seemingly embarrassed, scratched the back of his head, cheeks turning slightly pink as he started muttering under his breath about birds and crows.

Sometimes her son can be too cute for his own good, however, after hearing it she decided to ignore the topic that has captivated Izuku during their spar. (She was not going to lose her sanity like this. Nope!)

About ten steps to her left, sitting against the red truck they used to move the trash away from the beach,” For the last time Izuku, I did NOT steal it!” “Mother, I am sorry to say this but, I do not believe you. Anyway, I wasn’t born yesterday so don’t treat me like I was!” were two backpacks. One of them was Izuku’s yellow schoolbag. The other one was black in color and quite big, currently looking like something was stuffed inside it.

Making her way over towards them, catching Izuku’s attention in the process, she said:

“Izuku, today is a special day. Do you know why?”

Kneeling in order to open the zipper of the black backpack, she takes a simple white rectangular box out of it and walks back towards Izuku, who was now wearing a curious expression, eyes focused on the mysterious box situated in his mother’s hands. Inko, smiling happily and with joy dancing in her eyes, pushes the box in front of her son and declares in a soft voice:

“Happy 15th birthday, Izuku!”

For all that is worth, Izuku was not expecting this. He expected his mother to announce that from now on he will be put under a tougher training regiment or maybe that she will start working on making him able to fight under huge amounts of pressure or without sleeping since many missions do require you to resist and be able to fight under these circumstances.

A present and a “Happy Birthday” were the last things he expected today.

After he took the present from her hands, his mother, seeing the surprise that colored his face, or maybe thinking that his silence was strange, groaned, already realizing why Izuku was so surprised:

“Did you forget that it was your birthday, again?”

Her voice sounded exasperated and truthfully so since it was the fourth year this has happened. Izuku is really considering the option of putting an alarm that will ring at midnight on his birthday now.

Clearly embarrassed at the lapse in memory he always seems to have when his birthday is involved, he chuckles nervously, his cheeks growing hot. Inko, seeing his reaction, shakes her head in resignation. _‘He can memorize hundreds upon hundreds of mathematical theories, laws about how both the assassin and the normal societies work and methods of killing somebody, but if someone asked him when his birthday was, he can’t remember anything other than the year he was born’_ she thought fondly.

Motioning with her finger for Izuku to follow her, they approach the red truck and promptly sits down on the cool sand, the boy followed suit and once he settled in a Lotus position with his legs crossed while stealing glances between his mother and the gift in his hands. Inko smiles, catching his eyes and tells him to open the present.

Nodding to himself, Izuku sets the white box down and carefully removed the lid. His eyes widened when he saw the contents.  
Inside, carefully placed was a wakizashi with a black handle adorned with golden strokes that seemed to form a spiral going downwards. The blade, which seemed to be about 40cm long if Izuku’s knowledge is to be trusted, was gleaming in the moonlight. Above the blade was sitting a sheath of the same color as the handle, but the patterns were more complex although they retained the same color. They almost resembled a dragon or serpent that seemed to circle the place where the blade would be sheathed as if it was protecting it.

Izuku took the wakizashi in his hands, deciding that he should inspect the marking on the sheath at a later time.

The weight of the weapon felt satisfying and made him feel content, even complete. How long has it been since he held such a weapon in his hands? Far too long, he thinks.

Running his fingers over the cold and smooth blade, he felt something engraved at its base, but still maintaining a space in-between the handle and the engravings. The little markings were not deep, so the blade itself was not damaged.

Not being able to make sense of the markings just by touching, Izuku turns to ask his mother about them only to fail spectacularly:

“Mom, this-… I mean, the markings-… I mean I…” he struggles to articulate with no success.

Inko just looks at her son as he stumbles over his own words. Seeing him losing his composure like this is really rare these days. Cute, stumbling over his words, with a red hue covering his cheeks and bright emerald eyes shyly looking into her own green eyes that held a very distinctive softness in them.

“Yes, dear” she relents thus cutting short his stuttering “It is engraved. Do you want to know what were the words put there?”

Izuku nods silently and watches as his mother takes his hand into hers and starts brushing their fingers over the markings, going from the first set of two situated at the top of those three engravings and moving down towards the bottom.

“First,” she beings “is Zanshin which means Awareness. I chose this one because I want you to be aware of the dangers around you and be able to react or avoid them accordingly.” She then moves their fingers lower, settling on the next set of words. “Next is Mushin, meaning Clear Mind. I want you to make the best choices that you can without being blinded by anger, fear or arrogance, be it in the middle of a battle or in your everyday life.” As their hands move downwards towards the last pair of characters, Inko’s voice seems to acquire a sad note to it. “And last, Fudoshin, which means Emotional Balance.” she stops speaking for a moment, silence spreading around them along with the sounds of waves hitting the shore. After a moment in which she recollected herself, Inko envelops her son into a hug and, in a voice full of emotion, continues:

“Because I never want you to… I never want you to see you like that again!” she spoke these words fast as if ripping a band-aid, closing her eyes. Izuku remained speechless, only a sad whisper of the word _‘Mom’_ echoing in his head.  
“You decided to move past that event and I am so proud of you Izuku. I truly am… I just don’t want to see you hurting like that ever again, I know that you lost your last weapon in that incident and I also know that you have lost far more on that day too. But… you decided to move forward. Because of this, I want to help in any way I can so that you can fully recover from the loss you suffered that day. This character represents my wish for you to become someone with an immovable heart and mind, Izuku.” she finished, voice almost breaking, but words brimming with hope. Hope for the future of her only child.

Izuku couldn’t believe his ears. His mother, who always seemed to resemble a pillar of unmatched strength, was breaking down in front of him and he was never able to get a glimpse at her true feelings before. After that incident, he noticed his mother’s worried glances, but he ignored them most of the time, too caught up in the swirl of confusing emotions he felt. He never felt like he deserved that worry either. It was his fault that the incident happened in the first place. He knew that far too well…

And now, after making this selfish choice and trying to become an assassin again, even though he could die, even though he could have lived a normal life, one that did not make his mother worry even further than she already was, she not only supports his decision but also trains him and tries to help him get over that incident.

This is too much, he thinks. I do not deserve this much effort…

But those thoughts did nothing to stop the warm feeling that spread from his chest into his entire body. It was so warm that it made his eyes sting and he could feel tears starting to form. But he wasn’t sad, he thought to himself. He really wasn’t sad. There is nothing to be sad anymore. Three years have already passed. But… if he wasn’t sad then why does he feel like crying? Why...

Not knowing what to do, he turned his body in such a way so that his head was hidden in his mother’s shoulder, her hair tickling his cheeks and her breathing grazing the skin of his neck. Her smell -an oh so familiar smell- comforted him, but instead of chasing the tears from his eyes, it caused them to start falling from his emerald eyes, down his face and onto the jacket that covered his mother’s torso, wetting the material in the process.

With questions of why clouding his mind, he dropped the wakizashi next to them and into the sand as he moved his hands towards Inko’s back, fists clenching the clothe of the black jacket of his mother. Sobs were being torn from his throat as big tears were falling down his cheeks.

Witnessing this, Inko felt powerless. She thought about the last time her son broke down like this, but with a heavy heart realizes that when Izuku broke down last time, she was not there. She was not there and the only one who was there and comforted her son was him. He, who brought her son to her in an unconscious state after crying so much. As she thinks of the past a horrifying thought passed through her mind. Has she really never comforted her son after he broke down like this on that day? Has she really been such a bad parent for him?

Feeling the wetness spreading on her shoulder and hearing her son’s heart-wrenching sobs, she placed her arms around his back and pulled him in a tight hug, pressing his head further into the space between her shoulder and neck. Placing her chin on top of the boy’s head and rubbing circles with her hand comfortingly on his back, she vowed.

Vowed to be a better mother for her son. Vowed to help him overcome the incident from that day and any other problems he may face in the future. She vowed to make sure that Izuku will live a fulfilling life and that in the future she will see him happy, with a family of his own and smiling until the day death comes to take her from the Earth.

On that beach, on that night, only the stars and the moon were witnesses to the hug shared by a mother and her son, who cried until the early hours of the morning.  
The son questioned himself while the mother made vows to herself and her son.

Whether the son’s questions will be answered or the mother’s vows will be kept, only time will tell.

==============

Sunday, 18th September 2016  
Location: Dagobah Beach  
Hour: 5:35 p.m.

Tired. Exhausted. Fatigued. Spent. Worn out. Any other synonym for these words can clearly describe the state Izuku is in at this moment. And with a training program like his, who can blame him?

The poor boy is forced to train from 5 am till 7 am and from the time he gets out of school (which in retrospect varies from 2 pm to 4 pm) till 10 pm at night on the school days, meaning Monday to Friday, while on the weekends and free days decided by the country (or holidays) his training starts at 10 am and ends at 8 pm. You know that this training program is brutal when, in the working days of the week, the hours you spend at school feel like taking a break. Don’t blame him, at least he can sit down at school.

At least, the training seemed to have paid off. His muscles are now very much dominating the remaining fat on his body. His hair grew just an inch longer since his birthday, not bothering to cut it even now. If what his mother said is to be believed, his reaction time and battle skills are almost to the level they were three years ago. His weapon-wielding skills, on the other hand, were not as good since they did not have time to train a lot on them. Izuku, and unknown to him Inko, just prayed that whatever test he has to pass, the weapon-wielding kill won’t be a big part of it. After all, decent skills in the world of assassination equates to the survival skills of a goldfish. Basically useless.

His mother was concentrating on getting him back to his tip-top physical shape and on his rusted battling skills in the last five months. The cleaning of the beach was going smoothly too. Actually, today he is finishing the last patch of trash that was sitting around on the sand.

Currently, Izuku is dragging his body as he held in his hands a rusted hairdryer attached to a very dirty cable that, since was long enough to hit the ground, was drawing lines in the white sand. The sky was a bit cloudy, the crepuscular sunlight lightening the sky and clouds and painting them with a mix of red, yellow and a light hue of purple, the reflection of these colors creating a true spectacle on the surface of the water as seagulls flew above it.

The red truck used for transporting the trash was parked on the side of the road next to the beach. At the back, attached to it, was a four-welled tow, with high walls surrounding the tall pile of trash that was sitting in it. His mother was sitting next to the front door of the car, proudly smiling at him as he got closer. Once he sees himself in front of the, admittedly intimidating, heap of thrash, Izuku bents down, eyes focused on his target and threw the hairdryer into the tow.

Maybe it was because he put too much force into the throw or maybe because the universe just likes to give him heart attacks, the hairdryer with its long cable manages to hit the highest point of the pile, the cable somehow stuck onto the top and manages to push down the microwave that was previously playing the “King of The Heap” and sitting innocently on the top, while the hairdryer took over his position. (Talk about revolutions. Even a pile of thrash can do it easier than human society.)

The next few moments pass in slow motion for the boy as he watches fearfully the microwave tumbling down the rusted mountain and praying that the whole pile won’t go down with it and spill over the tow’s walls. (He already cleaned enough for today. He does not want to do it again.)

The boy breaths in relief as the microwave ends its journey to the bottom and the pile does not follow it. Alright. Crisis averted. He can take a break now, since his mother, as she did for the last months, will drive the truck to the landfill site of the city, where the garbage will be deposited from now on. But he does not have to deal with this much garbage again now. (He still shudders as he remembers how goddamn hard it was to move the refrigerator into the tow so it can be transported there. Hell, his own mother, who by the way refused to help him with anything else, was obliged to help him move the goddamn thing. His shoulders and the muscles in his arms and legs were screaming for the following few days. The continued training didn’t help. At all.)

His mother attracts his attention by clapping her hands and proceeds to congratulate him on a well-done job. The whole beach was now clean and while he may not have been that happy with this training at the beginning, now, looking at the clean sand of the beach at twilight, he felt very satisfied with his work. For this kind of view, he thought looking around, all that sweat and tears were worth it.

He turns his eyes towards his mother a moment later and, after watching her proud expression and her eyes that contained a mix of happiness with confusion at that moment, he asks the question that he has been dying to ask ever since the day started:

“Mom” he starts, voice very serious and eyes focused (as much as they can be since he is tired as fuck at that moment) “Can I please make up an illness so I can stay the next week at home? Pretty please?” he pleads, a pathetic expression accompanied by tired green eyes and a voice that could send a lesser human into tears of pity.

Inko stares surprised at her son for a moment then bursted into a fit of very amused giggles under Izuku’s pleading eyes. Her voice, as crystalline as always, gives away her joy and amusement by the way the giggling produced seemed to be a step away from an outright laugh. Izuku can only stare, thinking how he at least tried and how boring tomorrow will be for him.

Getting her laughter under control, Inko looks at him and replies amused:

“That was the plan Izuku.”

To say the least, Izuku is stunned, but before he can get a word out, his mother interrupts with some outrageous new information:

“There is no way I am letting you go to school like this. Your body needs to rest up and your mind needs to re-enter a state of awareness of your own power since your physical power increased over these months. Basically your brain needs to adapt and fast, since on Saturday, 24th of this month you will take the assassin exam.” she ends on a cheerful note and, if Izuku would have paid attention to her eyes, he could have seen the mischief swirling in them.

Izuku’s brain crashed. His exam is next Saturday… that means in 6 days he will be fighting for his life trying to get back into the community that he didn’t know if he will ever return to. Once the shock diminished, a wave of annoyance and irritation made themselves present in his mind, these emotions aimed at his spartan teacher.

The poor seagulls that enjoyed a quiet evening were scared out of their minds when the young boy with emerald green eyes shouted from the top of his lungs at his mother:

“AND WHEN EXACTLY DID YOU MEANT TO INFORM ME OF THAT LITTLE DETAIL MOTHER!?”

Inko’s response was just her dissolving into a fit of hysterical laughter as her son glared daggers at her.

_At least_, Izuku supposed,_ he got a week free and that information in the end, right?_

… Right.

\-----------------------

OMAKE

**All Might’s Confusion and Supposed Hearth Attack**

Monday came and the morning was a bit more free for one Yagi Toshinori than his last half of the year. Heroes do not sleep since evil does not either._ And everyone seemed to need a hero these days_, Yagi supposed. Last week was a series of about 20 villain attacks, 19 kittens stuck in a tree and about 4 or 5 children stuck on the roof of a house. (How they managed to do that, he will _never_ understand)

Indeed, heroes do not sleep. And thus All Might doesn’t sleep either. (Even though he should by what Recovery Girl, his personal doctor, and pain in the arse, said.)

Being the Symbol of Peace he was, Yagi, or better said his superhero persona All Might had double or triple the amount of work his fellow Pro Heroes do. And his power was growing weaker and weaker by the day. He could feel it. His transformation time went from 5 hours that he had half a year ago down to 3 hours now. That did not mean that Yagi, in his civilian form, did not help as much as he could. (He usually only helps his dear friend Naomasa with information and if he did not have it, with resources and ways to gather information. The sheer number of contacts he gets from his Pro Hero job can be used for more than just a casual talk about the weather after all.)

Seeing that his presence is not immediately needed on that morning, Toshinori Yagi, dressed in baggy pants, sports shoes and a big white shirt that engulfed his skeletal figure, went outside for a run in the refreshing, cool air of the dawn.

Blonde hair fluttering in the wind as his running pace was still moderate, trying to not push his already weakened body too much, knowing that he will have to pay in coughing blood and getting a hell of a lecture from Recovery Girl and he would like neither of these, thank you very much.

His pace slows down as he gets closer to Dagobah Beach. This place always held a specific sentimental value for him. Here, when he was but a high school student, he and his mentor trained day and night to both inherit his quirk and enhance its power. Nowadays, however, that beach has been abandoned by human society. It became something similar to a storage place for garbage. If people got some thrash they want to get rid of, it will be thrown here.

It was such a shame too. At dawn, when the sun rays just lightly touch the surface of the water and the white sand on the shore, the beach looked so…

Clean.

Yagi blinks. When his vision seems to not return to normal, he blinks again. At the third blink, his mouth hangs open as he looks over the immaculate white sand and the clearly displayed horizon as the light of the dawn draws onto the reflection of the water a clear picture of the rising sun.

He could not believe his eyes. This beach, which only about half a year ago was full of piles of thrash, is now as clean as it was forty years ago, if not cleaner.  
He feels his voice return if only for a moment so he can utter the words: “Oh my… oh my** GOODNESS**!”, the last word being reinforced by the booming voice of his Pro Hero persona, in which he transformed without even realizing.

He transforms back as he feels blood starting to quickly make its way up his throat and takes a napkin from his pocket, coughing that blood into it as to not dirty the white shirt he is wearing. The last thing he wants is for people to notice blood on his shirt and either accuse him of being a murderer or think that he really needs to go to the hospital, pronto, again. -and yes, he does need that, but will he ever admit to needing to go to the hospital? NEVER!-

As he still stares in stupefaction at the completely garbage-free beach before him, his mind puts the 10000$ question: _‘Who did this?’_

On the other side of the town, snuggled in his warm bed, rolled up in his blankets (resembling a caterpillar) and sleeping soundly after his mother got him a week free by faking some papers that state he has caught a very nasty cold, the culprit of the aforementioned accomplishment remains unaware of the turmoil he instigated in the heart of the Symbol of Peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Next chapter-Chapter 4: "How to give Pro Heroes a Heart Attack 101" by Midoriya Izuku
> 
> Izuku contemplates getting a side-job as the future author of the next bestseller titled " How to Give Pro Heroes a Heart Attack on Your First Date" while he is stuck playing babysitter for a (probably, but not likely) capable adult that suffers from anger issues. Oh, joy!  
Inko is a proud mama bear. Exams can be harder than you think. And Aizawa just wanted to stay home and pet his cats, goddamnit.  
Oh, and Izuku takes a leap of faith. LITERALLY!


End file.
